Since earliest contact with European explorers in the 1500"s, the Cherokee Nation has been identified as one of the most advanced among Native American tribes. Cherokee culture thrived for thousands of years in the southeastern United States before European contact. After contact, Cherokee society and culture continued to develop and progress. Soon, they had shaped a bicultural government and a society that matched the most.

             "civilized" of the time.

             At the time of contact, the Cherokee were settled, agricultural people living in about 200 fairly large villages. The typical town consisted of 30 to 60 houses and a large council house. Homes were somewhat like upside-down baskets, consisting of a circular framework interwoven with branches and plastered with mud. The entire structure was partially in the ground. In later periods, log cabins came into use. They usually consisted of one door and a smoke hole in the bark-covered roof. Their council houses were seven-sided to represent the seven clans of the Cherokee: Bird, Paint, Deer, Wolf, Blue, Long Hair, and Wild Potato. Each tribe elected two chiefs, a Peace Chief who counseled during peaceful times and a War Chief who made decisions during times of war. However, the chiefs did not rule absolutely. Decision making was a more democraticprocess, with tribal members having the opportunity to voice concerns. The counsel houses were also the sight of the sacred fire, which the Cherokee had kept burning from the time immemorial.

             Cherokee society was a matriarchy. The children took the clan of the mother, and kinship was traced through the mother"s family. Women had an equal voice in the affairs of the tribe. Marriage was only allowed between members of different clans. Property was passed on according to clan alliance.

             The Cherokee were mainly agricultural people. Their diet relied mainly on corn, beans, and squash; however, they readily adopted the tools and weapons introduced by Europeans.